Nordic American Tankers Limited, the Bermudian-based oil tanker company, has reported a net loss of $21 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The adjusted EBITDA was $1.9 million.

The net loss for the previous quarter was $44.6 million, with an adjusted EBITDA of -$12.3 million.

On a time charter equivalent (TCE) basis, the company said, the fourth quarter was the best of the last five quarters.

The average TCE for NAT’s active fleet during the quarter came in at $10,100 per day per ship. This was up 74 per cent from the previous quarter of $5,800 per day.

Herbjorn Hansson, founder, chairman and CEO, said: “We take comfort from an improving trend in both top- and bottom-line results.”

NAT said it has one of the lowest debt levels among publicly listed tanker companies.

The company’s net debt per December 31 is $245.3 million or $11.1 million per vessel. Its gross loan-to-value ratio is currently 49 per cent.

Mr Hansson said: “This provides the company with financial flexibility. Our objective is to become debt free.”

Looking ahead, he said: “Global oil demand is nearing pre-pandemic levels of early 2020. Oil production is increasing, slowly, but surely.

“We expect that the tanker markets will gradually improve during the year and hit an inflection point in utilisation that can create a very interesting market for our fleet. With global oil inventories at critically low levels now, this could happen sooner than later.”

Mr Hansson added: “As regards the recent political events in Russia and Ukraine, we shall comment later when matters are more clear.”

The cash dividend for 4Q 2021 is one cent per share, payable on March 30 to shareholders on record March 11.

It is the company’s 98th consecutive quarterly dividend payment.